Fitchburg State Storms Back to Down Men’s Hockey

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The MCLA Men's Ice Hockey team continued their run of games with MASCAC foes this evening when they Welcomed Fitchburg State to the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink. The Trailblazers opened the game well, scoring two goals before the Falcons got on the board, but things went sideways quickly from that point, with the visitors scoring five unanswered goals to take the 5-2 victory.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024
• Score: Fitchburg 5, MCLA 2
• Records: Fitchburg State Falcons 10-7-2 (MASCAC 9-4-2) | MCLA Trailblazers 3-15-1 (MASCAC 1-13-1)

HIGHLIGHTS

• MCLA scored the lone goal of the first period on the power play when Sean Schifferl intercepted an attempt by Fitchburg to clear the puck after a Shane Green wrister from just inside the blue line. Easton Moore attempted to cycle the rebound back out to Schifferl but was blocked by the Falcons' Trenton Skaggs. Skaggs' attempt to clear the puck, however, went directly to Schifferl, who fed the puck to Cade Herrera for a one-timer from between the circles that found daylight between the goalie and the right pipe with just under two minutes left in the period. The goal was Herrera's eighth on the year, while the assist was seventh for Schifferl.
• It was Herrera who tallied the Trailblazers' second goal with just over three and a half minutes expired in the second period. Coming off a faceoff in the offensive zone that was won by Easton Moore out to Luke Rhoss, Rhoss sent the puck across the end line back to Moore, who circled the net and fed Herrera for his second goal of the evening. The goal was Herrera's ninth, and the assists were the ninth of the year for Moore and the fifth for Rhoss.
• Things went downhill for MCLA quickly after that, with Fitchburg scoring four unanswered goals in the second period, including a stretch of three in 30 seconds. The first goal came with the Falcons on the power play and was scored at the midpoint of the period by Samuel Rennick (at 10:00, assisted by Michael Macchioni & Jack Johansen). The second goal came 11 seconds later and was scored by Oliver Cookson (10:11, Cole Archambeault and Skaggs) and was then quickly followed by a third credited to Toivo Kramer (10:30, Alexandre Bauvais and Nicklas Millhorn). The fourth goal of the period went to Skaggs (16:21, Bauvais) and sent Fitchburg into the second intermission with a 4-2 lead. The Falcons peppered the Trailblazers' goalie, Mathew Gover, with 30 of their 56 shot in the second period alone.
• Things settled down in the third period, with the Trailblazers having multiple good looks despite being outshot in the final frame by a total of 15 to nine before Fitchburg put the final nail in the coffin with an empty net goal by Kristopher Zapata (19:13, unassisted) with less than a minute remaining.
• MCLA's Mathew Gover finished the night with 51 saves but still saw his season record drop to 2-12-1. The Falcons, Frederick Soderberg, improved to 4-2-0 after stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced.
• An additional item of note from the game was that with the win, Falcons head coach Dean Fuller earned his 600^th career victory, making him just the third DIII coach to reach the milestone.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: Fitchburg 56, MCLA 28
• Saves: Fitchburg 26, MCLA 51
• Faceoffs Won: Fitchburg 37, MCLA 44
• Penalty/Minutes: Fitchburg 3/6:00, MCLA 6/12:00
• Power Plays: Fitchburg 1 for 4, MCLA 1 for 1

UP NEXT:

On Thursday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to UMass-Dartmouth for a MASCAC matchup with the Corsairs at the Hetland Arena. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.

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